Formaldehyde exposure and respiratory cancer among woodworkers--an update.
Respiratory cancer was examined in relation to occupational formaldehyde exposure in a case-referent study (136 cases, 408 referents) nested in a woodworker cohort. Plant- and time-specific job-exposure matrices were constructed for formaldehyde exposure. Over 3 ppm-months of formaldehyde exposure was associated with an odds ratio of 1.4 [90% confidence interval (90% CI) 0.5-4.1]. The odds ratios for lung cancer were near unity, the excess risk concentrating on the upper respiratory tract. That for combined exposure to formaldehyde-phenol exposure (all respiratory cancers) was 1.6 (90% CI 0.6-4.4) but 1.0 for formaldehyde only. No consistent exposure-response patterns emerged for the level, duration, or cumulative exposure. The results are hardly more than debatable support for the hypothesis concerning formaldehyde as a carcinogen in humans, the possible risk seemingly concentrating on the upper respiratory tract rather than the lung.
Partanen
T
T
Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland.
Kauppinen
T
T
Hernberg
S
S
Nickels
J
J
Luukkonen
R
R
Hakulinen
T
T
Pukkala
E
E
D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D005557:Formaldehyde / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D007822:Laryngeal Neoplasms / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014134:Tracheal Neoplasms / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000453:epidemiology
D005557:Formaldehyde